The present inventive concept relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly, to integrated circuit cards.
A smart card is a common credit card shaped portable token including embedded control logic (e.g., a microprocessor) and related memory. The smart card memory may be provided by means of an embedded memory chip. Using the data processing capabilities of the control logic and the data storage capabilities of the memory chip, a great variety of functions may be implemented (e.g., pre-paid value, credit/debit, ID, user loyalty, data storage, etc.). Unlike conventional cards including only a magnetic stripe to store data, a true smart card is able to execute data handling and/or computational logic functions.
For example, a smart card may access data in a remote database via a corresponding smart card terminal. Conventional smart cards may be generally classified as an integrated circuit (IC) microprocessor card, an IC memory card, or an optical memory card. In these forms, smart cards are being commercially adopted at an increasing rate for numerous applications.